I normally only post on the Tuesday of each week but my thoughts wandered into something I felt a need to post here. It is relevant to this week's post.
We should all beware whenever we see someone advancing an argument along the lines of philosopher Jeremy Bentham's words, "It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong." These seemingly reasonable words are morally bereft in a number of ways I wont touch all of here. But most to the current point the good of the many does not outweigh and can never outweigh the good of the individual. For we are all individuals and anything that treats one individual's good goals as rubbish to be pushed aside for the sake of the many diminishes not just that single individual but all of us.
We should all beware whenever we see someone advancing an argument along the lines of philosopher Jeremy Bentham's words, "It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong." These seemingly reasonable words are morally bereft in a number of ways I wont touch all of here. But most to the current point the good of the many does not outweigh and can never outweigh the good of the individual. For we are all individuals and anything that treats one individual's good goals as rubbish to be pushed aside for the sake of the many diminishes not just that single individual but all of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment